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Costa Rica Increases Banana
Price
From 1 January the official free
on board (FOB) price of Costa
Rican bananas increased by us¢15
cents from $ 5.70 to $ 5.85 per
18.14 kg box.
The new price is what the
multinational exporters pay to
producer, which has been
increased by a government
decree.
Of every box, us¢5 cents is
remitted to the national banana
corporation Corbana, for
programs to improve the
production and for support to
the sector. The price increase
favours the independent banana
growers who supply
multinationals mostly and are
responsible for about 57% of the
Costa Rican banana exports.
The major banana exporting
companies are: Standard Fruit
Company, Banana Development
Corporation (Bandeco), Compañía
Bananera Atlántica (Cobal) and
Sielsa.
Those companies produced 43% or
102 million boxes of the total
banana exported in 2006.
Meanwhile banana growers in El
Oro in Ecuador are waiting on
what the new government of
Rafael Correa will decide on the
official reference price for
bananas,
Ecuador is expected to keep the
present level of us$3.25 per box
for some time to come.
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